Introduction

There is a burgeoning crisis in public schools and institutions of higher education in South Africa. As Jonathan Jansen, the internationally renowned vice chancellor and rector of the University of the Free State warned in a public lecture: “If we do not stop the free fall in education within the next 10 to 15 years, this democracy will implode and all chances of creating an economically productive and humanely compassionate society will be lost” (Jansen, 2012, p. 10). Creating opportunities for previously marginalized and excluded people to access institutions of higher education, and to be academically successful, is crucial to the social and economic development of South Africa and to strengthening its nascent democratic culture.